“For everyone,” Aminata said cryptically. Her body had stopped shuddering. “I’m okay now.”
She very much was not. His djinni was scar riddled with sunken eyes, exceedingly dry skin, and her clothes were starting to hang off her frame. Her hair had grown but the tendrils were dry, almost like tinder. What was Aaliyah doing, letting Aminata get to this state of unwell? Had she offered to help? Had Aminata been too prideful to accept it?
Had she even cared?
Jaie stroked her fingers. Aside from the lesions there, her nails were cracked and brittle where before they were smooth and neatly trimmed. Unable to help himself, Jaie brought those fingers to his lips for a very long kiss. Aminata whimpered, her face finding his biceps, and he held her closer automatically despite his lingering anger with her. When he pulled his lips away, her fingers were lesion-free and smooth.
“You must stop this,” Jaie whispered against her temple. “You are destroying yourself.” The irony of this statement considering he’d thought her dead for months was inescapable. But now that he knew she wasn’t, he felt a renewed sense of urgency to keep her safe and alive.
“What’s one person in the face of hundreds? Hundreds in the face of thousands? Thousands in the face of millions? Billions?” Aminata asked, her tone sounding so incredibly tired.
Well, he had his answer to why she’d allowed Donas that victory, but he was still unsatisfied. How could he be, when his own answer to that question was—
Everything, when that one person is you.
CHAPTER FIVE
Amie was in the place she’d never thought she’d be again.
Jaie’s arms.
They felt stronger than she remembered, warmer. He still smelled of stardust and light, a clean, slightly metallic scent that had always brought her comfort. Unable to help herself, she turned in his hold and buried her face in his strong neck. When his large hand began caressing her back, tears sprung to her eyes. She didn’t deserve his comfort, didn’t deserve to have him take her tears. She’d betrayed him. He was being far too generous with her now.
“Come,” he whispered, forcing her to stretch out in the water. Amie dragged her eyes closed even though she couldn’t see him. He hadn’t Shown himself to her, which was just as well.
Jaie’s hands were gentle as they smoothed away the soreness in her body. Her breathing deepened now that she wasn’t constantly trying to alleviate her pain. She felt her limbs loosen and lengthen under his healing touch. A relieved sigh escaped her mouth without her permission.
“You would not have to be in such distress if you had simply trusted me, Aminata.”
Amie’s scowl was immediate and fierce. “What?”
Jaie didn’t clarify right away, though his hands continued their measured strokes. Now that pain wasn’t at the fore of her mind, she could register the pleasure his touch had always elicited. Despite herself, her nipples hardened and peaked upon her breasts and the area between her thighs grew slick and damp. Amie barely bit off a moan as his hands glided over her breasts. Sheer force of will kept her hips still instead of thrusting, searching for Jaie’s touch.
“You let me think you dead,” Jaie said, his voice hard and rough. “You made me grieve for you.”
Amie squeezed her eyes shut hard at the charge. “Yes. Donas couldn’t suspect I’d tricked him.” But he had anyway, so her ploy had all been for naught.
“You made him more powerful than he had any right to be on the small chance he would be your puppet?”
Amie couldn’t help her amused snort. “You sound as incredulous about this as my Sire.”
“Good!”
She sighed. “I did that for you. Only for you.”
Jaie didn’t speak but his hands stilled, tightening around her waist. She closed her hands around his wrists and opened her eyes only to close them again when blinding light filled the cavern. Tears sprung to her eyes, both because of the sudden brightness but mostly because Jaie was finally allowing her to see him. Amie couldn’t stop herself from cupping his strong jaw. His eyes closed at her touch as if to savor it and her heart wobbled and overflowed with emotions.
“We are quite the pair, you and I,” Jaie murmured, opening his eyes again. She’d missed gazing into them, their color a brown that appeared pierced by the sun.
“We are mission-oriented beings,” Amie explained.
“I fear my mission has shifted if that is the case.”
Amie sucked in a sharp breath. This was dangerous talk for an agent of Creation. That kind of talk could lead them susceptible to Donas. “Creation, and its salvation, is your mission. That hasn’t changed.” She knew that down to her bones—her soul.
“Yes,” he said simply, though his eyes were intent upon her face. His hands squeezed her hips gently.
Amie had a sudden need to be closer to him. She reached up and wrapped her arms around Jaie’s neck, lifting herself out of the water. Jaie’s arms banded around her, holding her close. The star-forged leather of his vest chafed her nipples and the leather trousers he wore created a delicious friction against the nubbin between her thighs. She allowed herself one illicit stroke and shuddered. He wasn’t here for this. He could never be here for this, but goodness, she yearned.
“Aminata,” Jaie whispered in her ear, his hands sliding up over the generous dips and valleys of her back to her shoulder blades. His voice was almost even, but she heard the vibration of lust on his tongue, felt the tiniest of quakes his body made as he kept himself on the straight and narrow. She wouldn’t tease him, but she couldn’t let him go, either.
“I’m sorry for the deaths,” Amie said before he could say whatever else he was about to say. “I tried to think of another way to hide what I was doing, but it didn’t work. I did try to limit the effects, but Melody—” Her voice caught on her best friend’s name. Her throat closed against the question she knew she should ask and she spoke through it. “Is she better?” Amie hadn’t allowed herself to think too much about Melody’s status, scared she’d See a future where Melody was no longer there despite Jaie’s initial assurance.
“She wanted to come and talk to you in person,” Jaie admitted. “I told her not to come. She is still healing.”
Amie nodded her understanding. “I know she has questions.”
“I do not think she will like some of your answers,” Jaie said carefully. “I know I will not.”
Amie kept quiet, knowing Jaie was right. She started to break her hold around him but he held fast, leaving the pool. He walked them to the chaise, where there was a towel lying in wait for her. He stretched out on the chaise and wrapped the towel around her.
“Ask me whatever you like,” Amie said quietly.
It was the longest, most arduous interview session Amie had ever had. Some of her answers made him vibrate with anger. Others had him squeezing her closer to him to offer comfort. By the time he was done, Amie was exhausted with a pounding headache. Jaie pressed firm fingers to her temples and began to massage.
“You should not have shouldered that burden on your own,” Jaie murmured after a while, then he sighed. “I should have never asked for your help.”
“But you did. You can’t change that.”
“I could wish I had never asked for your help.”
“You could,” Amie conceded. “But don’t think Donas wouldn’t’ve known about me. In fact, he’d approached me before Orion or you had even told me exactly who I was.”
His arms tightened around her more. “This is true.”
“He would’ve had me working for him against my will,” Amie said, her voice soft. “He would’ve made me grant all sorts of wishes, told me all manner of things about what I could See. He might’ve made me wish to give him my powers and then I’d truly be dead.”
Jaie huffed out a breath then his lips pressed a solid kiss to her forehead. “I will not wish I had never asked for your help. I think I would have been forced to cut you down if you were truly working for Donas.”
“Yeah,” Amie said, then deadpanned, “that woulda sucked.”
Jaie’s chuckle vibrated through her and she hid her smile in the crook of his neck. His nose caressed the area on her forehead he’d just kissed and she sighed.
“I am still very angry about what you did, Aminata,” Jaie admitted after a moment. “But I understand. I do believe you were able to trick him for a period. You were Aaliyah’s source, were you not?”
“Yes,” Amie said. “I don’t think I’ll be much of a source for much longer.”
Jaie didn’t ask her to elaborate and she was glad for it. Her sessions with her Sire had illuminated several things—chief of which was traditional Persuasion couldn’t work on fellow djinn. Nor could Amie manipulate the Sight of other djinn. What had made Amie successful in the past was Donas hadn’t realized she could See what he saw when they’d connected because he hadn’t known they’d been linked in the first place. But she had been too careless, thwarting too many of Donas’s plans. Aaliyah had cautioned her against that, obviously, but she’d been so dogged about beating Donas at his own game that she’d taken the most grievous of losses in this one. And yet…
“I’ve just finished amplifying my Persuasion and have convinced normals not to enter the city.”
It had been a near thing, though, not being able to do so. Donas had discovered what she was doing thanks to their connection and attacked. Luckily, her Sire had been helping her strengthen her psi blockers, but the aggressiveness of Donas’s attack had almost overwhelmed her. Amie was sure adrenalin had helped because her defense had been harried and wild. Luckily, Donas had been growing equally exhausted, so he’d backed off. Then again, Donas had also backed off the moment Jaie had cradled her in his arms and called to her.
“How long will this last?” Jaie asked.
“Not long enough,” Amie said. “There’s only so long I can Persuade an entire population of people not to visit somewhere. Donas could wait me out. He may. I haven’t Seen him press the issue of fresh normal souls coming into the city so far.”
“I wish that made me feel better,” Jaie muttered.
Amie felt a tingle of a sincere wish being asked but she couldn’t give Jaie such false hope. Breathing measuredly through her nose, Amie suppressed the urge to grant the wish and was rewarded with a kiss on the cheek for her efforts.
“Do you think Donas grants wishes?”
“I think he forces people to make wishes on his behalf,” Amie said. “And unfortunately for us, pain and scarring are not deterrents for him.”
“Would they be deterrents for any djinni?”
“Yeah,” Amie said. “My Sire’s full of scars, but only because he’s got several millennia on me. He says that Gift is to be used sparingly. Our abilities aren’t limitless.”
She’d been overtaxing herself and she’d only been a known djinni for a little over a year.
“I do not want you to see that limit, Aminata,” Jaie said.
“I’ll sacrifice my limit to win this war.”
“It appears you are willing to sacrifice much,” Jaie said, though his tone was dark and heavy like oil. “Thousands of people who you do not know. People that you do. Your best friend. Me.”
His words struck her like slaps, barbed with frustration and jealousy. It piqued her own irritation and she sat up, her face twisted with a scowl. “And it sounds like you can’t, even though you’re the angel between the two of us,” Amie snapped back.
To her surprise, he framed her face with firm hands. His eyes bored into hers but she didn’t feel scared, not exactly. Nervous anticipation surged through her, making her black eyes go wide as if she didn’t want to miss a single thing he was about to do.
He left her hanging, though, snatching his hands away and standing. The light snuffed out, leaving her blind and in the dark.
Alone.
Aminata had no sense of time, no frame of reference for how long she’d sat there wearing only a towel and ignoring the rumbling of her hungry belly. That was how Aaliyah found her: shoulders hunched, eyes staring blankly ahead, head swaying slightly.
“I’m fucking him up on sight,” Aaliyah vowed.
Amie didn’t reply, simply licked her lips. She barely registered the savory scent coming from Aaliyah’s direction, but her stomach grumbled earnestly. She blinked and turned toward Aaliyah’s ruby-red aura.
“Thank you for lunch,” Amie said.
“Or dinner,” Aaliyah corrected. “It’s past nine.”
“Ugh,” Amie said, tucking the ends of the towel underneath her arms. She kept her legs as closed as possible because the towel couldn’t wrap around her completely.
“Whatever. Night time’s the right time, as Ol’ Ray would sing.”
Amie did manage a small smile and took the plasticware Aaliyah placed in her hands.
“Smells like gravy,” Amie said, scrunching up her nose.
“Salisbury steak,” Aaliyah said, a little dismayed. “You have a super nose or something?”
“Been legally blind over half my life; completely blind for the past ten years. I’d hope my nose picked up some of the slack.”
Aaliyah chuckled and Amie bounced as the chaise cushion took her friend’s extra weight. Before she even cut into her food, Aaliyah spoke.
“You were right. Daemon signatures were all over the place.”
“Did you leave them there?” Amie asked.
Aaliyah nodded. “Made them even more powerful, in fact.”
Amie nodded as well. “Good.” She ate a bite of her steak.
CHAPTER SIX
The clash and clang of steel on steel was a welcome sound to Jaie’s ears. He and many of his angels were on the training grounds in the Mojave Desert. Dust kicked up and swirled about them due to the speed of their sparring. Silver blood decorated the sand. Grunts and moans rent the air.
Ariella sat just beyond the circle where most of the angels were fighting. Bot was at her side, the dog’s tongue lolling out of her mouth and her body shaking with forceful pants. Jaie dipped into the vat of amreeta and walked over to where the pair sat. Bot sniffed at the ladle of amreeta curiously before drinking in earnest. Both Ariella and Jaie smiled.
“Al won’t be mad at you for that?” Ariella asked, arching an eyebrow.
“I cannot very well have Aminata’s beloved dog die when I could have done something to prevent it,” Jaie said. “And Alemayehu will survive this.”
Ariella looked at him incredulously but didn’t argue the point, merely petting Bot to the canine’s obvious delight. Jaie still wondered why the dog had returned with him to the Peak when she knew Aminata still lived. Was Aminata afraid something could yet happen to her precious companion?
Jaie shook his head to free himself of thoughts about Aminata. Those last words they’d exchanged two days ago continued reverberating in his mind. She’d hit the crux of his current dilemma…his guilt. She was far more dedicated to this overall fight than he was, all because he wanted her safe and with him. She was making a choice—one that he felt meant the loss of her—and he was being a jerk about it.
He gazed off into the horizon where the mountains were. Aminata was in one of those caves as they trained. What was she doing now? What was the point of her still hiding if Donas knew she lived? What was the next step in this heretofore ill-fated plan?
Aminata? he tried, but he could feel the barriers in her mind against his attempted contact. There was no response. Jaie only hoped she was equally barred to the Donas.
Shaking his head, Jaie went to the cache of weapons and drew a double ax. He needed to make someone bleed.
Few of his subordinates wanted to spar with him. Perhaps they could see the bloodlust in his eyes, the way he licked his lips as if he could taste the metallic life force. None of them would die, but Jaie supposed there was more honor being cut down in a battle with a foe than in a training exercise with one’s superior.
Oh, let me.
Jaie straightened his spine and fro
wned. Orion?
The responding chuckle made Jaie glower. Yes, but rather if you are in a fighting mood, Micah’s casino could use you.
Alone? Or do you need reinforcements?
Reinforcements would not be discouraged. See you shortly.
Jaie tossed the double ax to an angel who’d been standing on the periphery, sighing imperceptibly when the angel bobbled the catch.
“We have been summoned,” Jaie said, deploying his scepter. “Ariella, take Bot back to the Peak. Everyone else, let us go.”
He and the other angels reached the Clarion, another of Micah’s three casinos, in a space of two blinks. Nothing seemed amiss although renovations were still going on. Micah was outside with Orion, peering up toward the roof. The structure barely blocked the sun but Jaie didn’t need to squint.
What was the sun to an angel?
“What is wrong?” Jaie asked when he approached the two men.
Micah shook his head. “I’m not sure. Aaliyah said she sensed high daemon signatures here, but I don’t notice a thing.”
Jaie didn’t, either. In fact, everything seemed completely normal and safe to him. However, if Aaliyah gave Micah the warning, there must be some present. A slimy shiver crawled up his spine.
“Donas,” Jaie said.
“Why would he attack here?”
“It is not an attack,” Jaie muttered, deploying his scepter. “It is a trap.”
As soon as he spoke the words, a horde of daemons leapt from the roof, plumes of black and dark-gray smoke billowing into the sky. They were so dark, they blocked out the sun, but no matter. Jaie didn’t have to see them to smite them.
“Get the normals out of here!” Jaie called to Micah, who rushed inside the casino with Orion in tow. Jaie didn’t bother to track their progress, too busy being beset by three daemons at once. A quick swipe and slash of his scepter had the three daemons moaning and twitching on the ground. Instead of feeling relieved by the easy defeat, a prickle of worry grew in the back of his mind.
He kept his eyes on his other angels, noting how they also could defeat their foes with ease. Even though they kept coming, the daemons provided little challenge for his contingent. A thrust here and a parry there, a veritable hill of vanquished daemons piled up in the casino’s parking lot.
The Sight Page 4
